The present invention relates to a therapeutic device and, more particularly, to a physiotherapeutic device for exercising the ascent and descent of stairs to be used by professional physiotherapists, and a preferred embodiment to be used at home, in order to rehabilitate patients or maintain health and physical fitness; the device may also be utilized as a safe ladder for the elderly and those who suffer from certain physical handicaps.
Additionally, the device according to the present invention may be used as an elevator or stair lift assisting handicapped and wheelchair ridden individuals to ascend or descend to or from one level to another.
Alternatively, the device may be used to raise or lower heavy or bulky items from one level to another, especially in the home where such tasks are very tasking if done unaided.
Many patients require physiological rehabilitation for various reasons. These include, for example, victims of traffic accidents, patients who have suffered from a cardiac episode or underwent a cardiac medical procedure, as well as individuals that have had a cerebral episode, invasive medical procedures, or sustained injuries of violence and the like. These patients need to receive physiotherapeutic treatment in rehabilitation wards of various institutes or by professional physiotherapists, for the purpose of a gradual return to regular life.
The practicing of ascending and descending stairs is a central part of the rehabilitation process and greatly assists in enabling the patient in returning to his natural environment. Furthermore, the ability to ascend and descend stairs is a vital component in the assessment process performed by the medical staff in relation to the possibility of discharging a patient from the rehabilitative institution to his home.
Notwithstanding the aforesaid, there are no efficient devices for performing this essential exercise. The rehabilitative institutes usually utilize a staircase made of wood with three to five stairs of a fixed height. Such staircases do not meet the rehabiltatory needs of most patients as a patient at the start of the rehabilitation process may only be able to ascend stairs with a maximum height of, for example, 3 centimeters, while the same patient or a different patient at the end of the rehabilitation process, may require to exercise ascending and descending steps as high as 25 centimeters.
Many patients need to continue the rehabilitation process at home, after being discharged from the rehabilitative institute. As many researches show, exercising ascending and descending stairs aids health and physical fitness in general. This is especially the case for older patients.
Numerous house accidents are caused by falling off a ladder, and researches also show an increase in such a risk with age. Elderly people find it very hard to ascend a conventional ladder and therefore require a device enabling them to safely and easily ascend and reach the desired height and then descend from it, for the purpose of executing various activities in the home, such as inserting and removing items from cupboards or closets, light chores about the house, and the like. Such a device will open before the elderly and handicapped a wide range of activities which they previously were unable to perform for fear of the dangers involved with climbing ladders and the like or in a case where individuals are physically unable to use a conventional ladder.
Every physiotherapeutic device in professional and rehabilitative physiotherapy institutes is used by many patients. Efficiency, speed and convenience in adapting the device to meet the therapeutic needs of every patient are vital. The price and the dimensions of the device, however, are of secondary importance in that the burden of the overall cost is spread over many patients, and the device has a permanent place in the rehabilitative physiotherapy framework.
Physiotherapeutic treatment as described above is not usually available for patients that have been discharged to their homes, patients not needing to be admitted to a rehabilitative institution, and geriatrics not within an institutionalized framework, who require physiotherapy or physical exercise.
The mobility problem and the dangers of using a conventional ladder in the home are especially felt by the geriatric and the handicapped. For the handicapped, the use of a conventional ladder is both difficult and hazardous. Moreover, for these individuals the overall size and cost of the device are of primary significance in that it serves an individual, or couple, and the space available to use such a device is limited.
Various attempts have been made to create a device meeting the needs of the patients. In rehabilitative institutes wooden stairs are usually ordered from a carpenter. However, wooden stairs are latently deficient in that the stairs have a fixed height which can not be varied to meet the rehabilitation needs of every patient. In addition, there are patients in the preliminary stages of rehabilitation that are only able to exercise ascending and descending of stairs of a small height but in that the stairs are fixed at a larger height, are unable to accomplish this exercise.
Various fitness clubs have "stepping machines" which include a pair of paddles which go up and down on a hinge, while resistance is provided by pneumatic or hydraulic piston. These machines are unsuitable for the majority of patients, and especially unsuitable for the preliminary stages of rehabilitation. Moreover, "stepping machines" are intended to strengthen the user's muscles and are devoid of any rehabilitative use as well as involving different bio-mechanics than ascent and/or descent of stairs notwithstanding the term "stepping machines".
The use of conventional steps is inappropriate for the required physiotherapeutic exercise required in that the height of the steps cannot be altered. In addition, conventional ladders are manifestly hazardous for geriatrics and patients due to conventional ladders having a fixed height difference between each step as well as the lack of hand rails and latent instability of conventional ladders.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a low cost, low maintenance, reliable and effective physiotherapeutic device for the exercising of ascent and decent of stairs which provides a quick, easy and exact adaptation to the needs of the patient; the device enabling a plurality of patients to perform ascents and descents, at varying degrees of difficulty, one after the other, and providing an effective rehabilitation device which may be used to aid in the maintaining of health and fitness or as a ladder for the elderly and handicapped.
Additionally, the is also a need for an elevator or stair lift assisting handicapped and wheelchair ridden individuals to ascend or descend to or from one level to another which can alternatively be used to raise or lower heavy or bulky items from one level to another, especially in the home where such tasks are very tasking if done unaided.